


Feathers of the Broken

by xXRhymeXx



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Death, Explicit Language, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:27:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26072641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xXRhymeXx/pseuds/xXRhymeXx
Summary: Quentin's world has turned upside-down as he's sucked into the Entity's realm. With the loss of his daily life, he must navigate through his feelings of mistrust and despair to find those who can make him feel whole again.
Relationships: David King/Quentin Smith, Frank Morrison/Quentin Smith
Comments: 9
Kudos: 47





	1. Rock Bottom

**_:: Rock Bottom ::_ **

_“Tell me how did we get here?_ _  
And where the fuck do we go now?  
First I was floating through the atmosphere  
But now I'm looking up at rock bottom, bottom” – grandson_

**_:: ::_ **

Quentin followed the light shining dimly through the trees and hesitated. _Maybe this was one of Freddy’s tricks?_ The young man questioned himself.

He had just been in Badham Preschool with Freddy hunting him in his dream. He had located the exit of the dream, an inconsistency leading to a way out. This time it had been a patch of charred lilies surrounded by thriving flowers and shrubbery. Once he kneeled to pick up the harmed flowers, he blinked and had appeared back in the “special room” of the school’s basement with Freddy blocking the only path out. The dreamwalker slowly stood up, a feeling of helplessness washing over him. The man laughed and stepped towards him. And then… _And then_ … He was here in this forest. No death, no attack, and no Krueger.

_It just doesn’t make sense…_ He pondered. _He could’ve ended it all. This doesn’t seem like something he’d do._ Quentin attempted to look past the trees ahead of him, seeing a small clearing with a fire burning at the center. When he strained his ears, he thought he could hear voices ahead and it was all he needed to push forward to investigate.

As the dreamwalker made it to the tree line he spotted three people huddled around the campfire, using a fallen tree as a bench and two others laying down in the grass off to the left side of the makeshift bench from where Quentin was. The three on the bench appeared to be a guy and two girls and the guy was holding… _Cards?_ Quentin thought incredulously as the guy held out the cards to the other girls in a fanned motion, like he was preforming a magic trick. Deciding it was semi-safe, Quentin left the tree line and slowly walked to the fire. 

“Hey!” a redheaded girl with braided pigtails jumped up. “Hey, are you new?” She jumped up and started jogging towards the newcomer and as she got closer, Quentin started back peddling to the forest. He refused to fully trust his situation or let these people get close in case it was a trap.

“Wait! Hey, hey, hey!” the guy called out, putting the cards down and standing up with his hands up and open to show he wasn’t armed. “Meg stop, you’ll scare him off!” he called to the redheaded girl and she, _Meg_ , froze.

“Shit! Sorry. I got excited,” she put her hands up in the same gesture as the man. “Look, we’re not going to hurt you, but we do need to sit down and talk since you’re here. There’s…” She sighed and rubbed her temple. “There’s a lot to discuss in a short amount of time.

“My name is Meg Thomas, you can just call me Meg, never Meghan. The guy behind me is named Ace and the girl sitting there is Feng. We- We’re trapped here and if you’re here it means you are too now. I don’t want you running blind to the dangers around here. Can you come to the fire near us? We can try to explain this the best we can,”

Quentin looked to the left of the log where the two other people were laying and one of them, a guy with dark raven hair, was now sitting up watching them. “Who are the others?” the dreamwalker asked.

Meg looked over her right shoulder and her mouth made a little _o_. “Sorry I forgot they were right there. They’re usually quiet. The guy is Park- I mean Jake. His first name is Jake and the girl next to him is Laurie. Laurie Strode. I don’t know if you know her but apparently, she was one of the victims of that crazy stalker-murderer in the 70’s. It’s really crazy, you’ll have to ask her about it,” Meg looked like she remembered something and immediately stopped talking. Quentin’s head spun. He was so tired, and all this information seemed to go in one ear and out the other. The girl was talking circles around him. “Look, sorry, there’s a lot of information. Will you sit down… With us?”

She held out a hand to the newcomer and Quentin thought over the situation. Freddy has used their memories to create dream worlds and people. Although the Strode name sparked some recognition, he didn’t know any other these other people, nor had he ever been to a campfire like the one before him. Deciding to see where this would go, he reached out and took Meg’s hand. She held his gently and pulled him to the campfire where he sat down with a good space between him and the other two on the tree bench.

“So,” Meg started, pacing in front of the fire. “This is going to sound like such bullshit, but we’re in a sort of purgatory playing a game of survival for an ‘ _almighty_ ’ being called the Entity. It feeds off our fear or something like that. It throws us into these arenas and there are these massive two gates and it gives us seven generators-” Quentin felt himself spacing out as Meg kept trying to explain these ‘games’. If they were in the “Talking Olympics”, Quentin had no doubt she would be first place.

Slowly, the words became a jumbled mess the dreamwalker couldn’t decipher and he felt his mind being dragged under. Ice cold fear and panic crawled up in his throat and Quentin lifted his fist quickly, then brought it down hard to his thigh, grunting at the pain. Yet, he had been too late. He looked up and the people around the campfire were gone.

“M-Meg?” Quentin called out. His nails digging into his thigh as an effort to wake himself up.

“Try again, sweetheart,” a gravelly voice rumbled in his ear from behind and the young dreamwalker jumped up off the bench and whirled around coming face to face with the dream demon. “Now don’t look too excited to see me,” Krueger chuckled and stepped over the log bench. He used his ungloved hand to knock the brim of his hat higher on his head as he made a show of surveying the area. The dreamwalker took advantage of this and began slowly creeping backwards towards the woods. “Never seen this place... Holding back on me, aren’t cha Quen?” the man purred, dragging his claw of knives along the wood log bench as he took menacingly slow steps in sync toward his prey, leaving a trail of scarred wood behind.

“I guess you’re just full of _surprises_ ,” Krueger punctuated his thought by lurched forward suddenly, lashing out with his clawed hand across Quentin’s shoulder and chest. The dreamwalker stumbled back in shock but was not fast enough. He fell hard on his rear and his head hit the ground roughly. Although, instead of the pain that should have flared where Krueger hit him, all he could feel was the ache of his fall.

“What the fuck?” the man hissed looking from his claw to Quentin. Shocked, the younger stayed still as Freddy reached one finger claw slowly down out to touch Quentin’s chest. Miraculously, both males were surprised when the claw went straight through without any harm coming to the dreamwalker. It was as if Freddy or Quentin were an untouchable phantom. “ _What._ The _fuck._ Did you _do_?” A bewildered Freddy snarled, taking another slash but still his claws would not make contact.

A sense of satisfaction and relief sent shivers down the spine of the young man as his brain put the pieces together. Freddy couldn’t touch him now and the thought made him feel bold. He even dared to smirk at the dream demon.

“It’s okay, I’m sure it happens to _everyone_. I hear it’s hard to perform under pressure. Maybe try talking to your doctor about it.” Quentin punctuated his remark with a snicker of triumph as he sat up, making Krueger snarl in reply.

“You better be prepared. Once I figure out what ya did, you’ll wish you were dead, bitch.” With a deep menacing laugh, the man fell backwards into the fire allowing the flames to engulf his body. Quentin’s smirk slowly faded as he stared into the flickering flames. He didn’t know what was going on but if this meant he could rest easily, he didn’t want to wake up. As the minutes ticked by, he felt his eyes droop lower and he shortly fell to darkness.

**_:: ::_ **

“-y!” Quentin felt an outside force shake his body as he started to register the sounds around him. “’Ey kid! Wake up!” another shake and then murmuring. “-ssed out while… -he be okay?” the dreamwalker felt a hand touch the side of neck and just the feeling snapped him back to consciousness.

“I’m up!” he yelled as he snapped his eyes open and sat upright scrambling backwards. “Please, d-don’t touch me,” his eyes frantically darting around looking for that damned green and red sweater. A man and a woman were kneeled next to where Quentin had originally been which was behind the log bench from the fire. He must’ve fallen backwards when he passed out, he deduced.

“’Ey, 'ey,” the man soothed as if attempting to calm a frightened animal. “You ought to calm down. It’s just friends here. You’ve got nothing to worry about. Yer safe,” Quentin frantically focused his eyes on the woman first who seemed the calmest out of the group of people in front of him. She had dark mocha skin and she offered up a small smile when she caught eyes with Quentin. He then looked towards the man who spoke to him and he didn’t recognize him either. He had a slight English accent, from what the dreamwalker could tell, and he was rugged with dark hair, the sides of his head shaved. The man’s dark brown eyes were fixed on him with an intensity that reminded the dreamwalker of Nancy.

_Oh God, Nancy…_ Quentin broke the eye contact and looked around. He easily found the semi-familiar faces such as Meg and Ace, but some other faces he never recognized. He didn’t have time to process his situation and pulled himself to his feet backing up quickly. He needed to get back to Nancy. After her mom met her end by Krueger, Nancy rarely encountered the dream demon. She would still catch glimpses of him, but it seemed more like he was biding his time. If Quentin couldn’t be harmed in his sleep now in this forest, there was no telling what Krueger would do in retaliation. The young male just hoped it didn’t involve Nancy. The dreamwalker quickly resolved himself to go see her. He needed to get out of here and tell Nancy about this new place and how Krueger couldn’t touch them here.

“I… I've got to go,” he apologetically whispered to the gathering in front of him and started backing up towards the edge of the tree line behind him. “I need to go find someone,” he turned on his heel and ran for the forest.

“Wait! You can't!” the man yelled after him and started chasing after him. “Stop!” Quentin registered the others calling after them, but he ignored and pushed forward, crashing into the trees and foliage. Moments later he heard others following him, pushing aside the branches to catch up.

“Kid, you’re gonna get hurt! Stop!” Quentin couldn’t make heads or tails of the warning and decidedly pushed forward until a swirling sensation filled him. The crippling sense of vertigo was met with a face slide on the forest’s floor. A groan of pain escaped his lips and he rolled over onto his back. The man and a punk-rock looking girl stopped a few feet or so away and Quentin could see coal black smoke swirling around the man and his limbs started to dissipate into air. He seemed to not notice or if he did, there was no panic.

The feeling of pins and needles began pricking at Quentin’s arms and legs and he lifted an arm to his face to see the same exact smoke swirl lazily around him.

“What’s happening?” Quentin demanded, panic rising in his chest. “Make it stop!” Quentin looked at the man then the girl pleading them with his eyes to stop what was happening but was only met with a look of pity from the pair.

“We can’t stop it… It’s not us,” the man let out a puff of air and ran a hand through the hair on top of his head all the while looking irritated. “Fuck, man… I just came back from one…”

“F-From what?” Quentin asked

“You better take care of him,” the girl scolded, ignoring the dreamwalker’s panic, and the man nodded with a grimace.

“We’re going into a ‘game’ Find a corner of the arena and I'll… I’ll try to find you.” The man told him. With that said, the fog swallowed them both and once more Quentin was dragged under against his will.

**_:: ::_ **

****

When Quentin came to, he was standing in the middle of the cornfield. The atmosphere bathing the environment in a yellow hue.

_What the hell?_ Quentin pondered. He thought back to the other man who was surrounded by the black smoke. He had told him to meet him in a corner and wary as he was, the dreamwalker didn’t have any other alternatives, so he pushed forward through the corn towards a large house ahead. The foundation appeared majorly cracked and rundown and he decided that it would be one of the last places he’d attempt to look for the other man.

He walked past the building and some haystacks before he saw a long brick wall span out in front of him. To the left he could see a corner just past some log walls and to the right it appeared the wall continued for some length of land. Quentin headed in the direction of the corner he could see and caught sight of a… _generator?_ It looked like the generator had light bulbs at the top of a long pole connected to one of its sides. The mechanical contraption was quiet so the dreamwalker paid no mind to it as he pushed forward and reached the corner. He didn’t know the layout of the area, and he hoped that his surroundings didn’t have too many corners so that his newfound acquaintance would find him sooner.

A shriek shattered the silence and Quentin froze. He strained to hear what direction it came from before a whooshing sound filled the air. His eyes widened and his heart rattled in fear. He crouched down, throwing his hand over his mouth to stifle the gasp of horror as another shriek filled the air. A floating woman appeared before him who wore a dirtied cloth bag around her head and an early 20th century nurses’ gown that was shredded at the hem.

As she stopped, she sagged forward with a painful sigh and then straightened back up. In her hand she carried a rusted bone saw and the dreamwalker could have sworn he saw fresh blood dripping from it. His first thought was Freddy. _This must be some sort of illusion from Krueger,_ _right?_ He pressed his back to the wall and the woman, although close, kept her gaze on the generator Quentin had walked past.

The woman floated sideways back and forth as if trying to peer around the area of the generator. Once she seemed satisfied, or so Quentin assumed, she turned away and raised her unarmed hand. A small orange light glowed in her unarmed palm as if she were holding embers from a fire and as she closed the hand, she shrieked once more then blinked out of view.

When his heartbeat slowed, Quentin slumped to the ground. A cold sweat ran down his back and he squeezed his eyes shut.

_This must be a dream._ He begged his mind as he put his head in his head in his hands. There was no way this was real right? Freddy had to be behind this somehow.

A hand landed on Quentin’s shoulder a few moments later and he jumped, whipping his head up with his mouth open prepared to yell. A hand clapped him hard across his mouth and frantic eyes flew to his assaulter. The dreamwalker found himself staring at a wide-eyed version of the brunet man from earlier. The taller man wearily pulled his hand slowly from Quentin’s shoulder and put a finger to his lips signaling to be quiet. The dreamwalker nodded and slowly the hand was taken from over his mouth.

“Listen mate,” the man whispered. “This whole situation is a bloody mess, but we need to get one thing straight: whatever you do here affects everyone else stuck here. Meg said she explained it before you passed out, there’s four of us. Including you, you understand?”

Quentin nodded and the other mirrored the action in approval.

“Good.” The man then pointed in the direction the woman was. “That thing you just saw, the woman, we call ‘er the Nurse. Her job is to kill us and our job is to get the fuck out.” The man then pointed to the silent generator from earlier. “We need to repair five of those and then we can leave.” He then pointed back the way Quentin came. “’There’s a door back there,” then he jerked a thumb over his shoulder, so that it pointed behind him, “and then there’s one back there that I've seen.”

The man dropped his hand and fixed the shorter male with a look of what felt like pity and immediately Quentin found himself liking this man less and less. The only silver lining that Quentin could pull from his encounters with Krueger was that he learned more about his own character, and he found that he was a fighter at heart. He was also an active problem solver and never shied away from the danger when it came to doing what he felt was right. Even though he was sure Nancy was the stronger willed of the two of them, that didn’t deter him from vowing to never go down without a fight.

Now there was so much new information that Quentin’s head was spinning but he knew whatever twists Freddy was throwing at him, he could take it in stride and push himself to persevere. But where he was now, Quentin felt ridiculed when he was almost certain this other man couldn’t even begin to understand what the dreamwalker had survived through until this point. It was as if the other man felt what Quentin experienced _now_ would be the hardest thing to ever happen to him. _If_ that is what the older man thought, then he had another thing coming, because this insomniac wasn’t a weak kid in need of protection or pity. In his core, Quentin felt his resolve settle in place and a strange calm washed over him. He was going to survive this, just as he had always done, just to prove this man wrong.

“Okay so what do you need me to do now?” he asked the mysterious male coldly. The other male’s eyes narrowed, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

“Gen over there needs to be worked on. Let’s go,” the stranger stood and began jogging to the generator that the “Nurse” had checked just previously. He could still hear the shrieks from a distance, so he wasn’t sure how safe it was but with the feeling of confidence and a new resolve to survive, the dreamwalker followed suit.

When he reached the generator, the man showed him how to work on the “gens”. The insomniac watched the man deftly pull cables, cross wires, and mess with the gears of the machine where he saw necessary. Deciding it didn’t seem too difficult, he joined in on the other side of the gen and tried imitating the mechanic skills he had just witnessed. The back pistons of the gen began slowly moving before rapidly picking up speed and then as they maintained the same speed, the next set began to move in the same slow manner. It looked like there were four sets and Quentin deduced that this was how they could tell which gens were almost done.

Suddenly there was a creaking sound and from the gears he had been working, it looked like there were two cog wheels stuck. The dreamwalker hesitated unsure what to do but then decidedly reached for the jam. He must have been too slow as once his hand was near, the gears ground against each other roughly and sparked back to life. The surge of built up power as they righted themselves was directed in a small explosion toward Quentin. Pain flared on his fingertips as he ripped his hands away from the generator to shield his face. 

“Fuckin’ A,” Quentin grumbled as the sparks settled. He looked up at the other man to meet a sympathetic gaze.

“’That’ll happen for a bit when you’re learnin’.” He looked away over his shoulder and then back to the dreamwalker. “When you mess up the gen, the killer that’s roaming hears that something is going on over here. We should probably get mo-“

A whoosh cut the Englishman off and suddenly with a shriek the floating woman was directly behind the taller man. She pulled him right off the gen with one arm and threw him over her shoulder like he weighed nothing.

“Ya bloody…” The man growled and began to struggle. The woman paid no mind and turned, appearing to have a purpose with the captured man. “Go!” he hissed, seeing the frozen look of shock on the younger man. Quentin scrambled up and after them, he wasn’t sure where they were headed but disagreed with letting the other man pay for what was the dreamwalker’s mistake.

“Hey!” he yelled as he chased after them. “Leave him alone!”

“Oi! Get the bloody hell out of here!” David yelled at him but was ignored.

“You better drop him!” Quentin yelled and reached to grab the back of the woman’s dress to try to stop her. As he touched the rough dirtied white fabric, a sense of dread and… _wrongness_ … washed over him, but he pushed forward anyway. He fisted the fabric and yanked hard digging his feet into the ground and the woman jerked to a slow. She spun hard with the Englishman, making Quentin let go, and she lashed out with her blade. The bone saw caught his left shoulder and ran across his upper chest to the middle of his torso. The bite of the blade made him hiss but he could not register the full force of the pain yet, this was fight or flight now.

“Oi, fuckin’ stop!” the Englishman roared, continuing his struggle. “I'll be okay! Just go! Make some distance, you fuckin’ arse!” The young man hesitated at the words, watching the woman float backwards keeping her field of view on Quentin. She cocked her head to the side as if trying to make sense of the dreamwalker's actions and ultimately, he cursed inwardly and ran back the way he had come. He didn’t know much about this strange world so the best he could do was take the other's advice.

He found his way back to the generator they had been working on and attempted to work on it the best he could. It was frustrating to realize that there wasn’t anything he could do to make it go faster. Moments later he began hearing the shrieks again in the distance and the insomniac hoped the other man was okay. As the last set of pistons were picking up speed, he felt a hand lightly grab his shoulder and he flinched, almost crossing the wrong wires.

“Hey, sorry just me,” a familiar voice said as he turned around.

The brunet recognized Meg immediately and he offered up a small smile. It was surprisingly nice to see her again, regardless of the circumstances.

“You seem like you’re picking it up quickly,” she observed the gen with a smile and took up place next to him right where the other man had been previously.

“Y-yeah. That English guy helped me out.”

“Oh, you mean David? Where is he now?”

_David…_ the dreamwalker let the name sit on the tip of his tongue. He had been so focused with the current task and getting back to Nancy that he never offered up his own name or asked the other man for his.

“The um… _Nurse_ grabbed him. I tried to stop her, but it only resulted in me getting hit.”

“ _Hit?_ ” Meg asked incredulously. “You seem pretty calm for being _hit_.” She peered at him around the corner of the gen and finally laid eyes on the red wet slash across his chest. “Oh no. No, no, no. We’re going to take care of that first. Once we finish this gen she’ll know right where we are. I can’t have you bleeding out on your first run.”

“First?” Quentin asked but was left unanswered. The girl smacked his hands away from the generator and began to observe the cut. It began to sting when she shifted his torn jacket and shirt to reveal the angry sliced skin underneath. She pulled out a thread and a needle and Quentin’s eyebrows rose. “No, Meg, there’s really no need for that. I-I’m fine. It isn’t that bad.” The girl only narrowed her eyes at him and continued to prep the needle, struggling to get the thread through the hole.

“You make it sound like it’s no big deal. My first time here was hell. I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of getting cut up and murdered. That stuff happens in movies and books, but you never expect it to happen to you.” Quentin’s lips pursed at the irony. That was exactly what his life has entailed since Krueger had come for him and his friends. Not providing a response, Quentin gingerly touched her wrist.

“Really, I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt that bad. Save that for someone who needs it,” Quentin reassured and even with the obvious doubt on her face, she huffed and returned the needle to her side. He leaned over and saw her stuff it back into a small plastic medical kit she had placed in the dirt. With one more disapproving look shot his way, she reached up and crossed another cable for the generator to spring to life.

“Time to go!” Meg called as she whipped around to run the way she had come. “Try not to die, Mr. Stubborn!” Quentin pondered the light heartedness of her tone but found himself distracted as he focused on moving in the same direction as the girl. They ran between the small log walls and past some wheels of hay before meeting the open corn field once more.

He very quickly lost sight of Meg and as he ran through the crops, he heard heavy footsteps from his left. Seconds later Quentin saw a running David and began to call out before that dreadful shriek cut him off. Instantly the insomniac came face to face with the Nurse and she swung her blade without hesitation. The sudden pain across his arms and chest caught him off guard. He yelped as he tripped and crumpled to a halt on the ground.

Without a word the floating evil reached down and plucked him from the dirt by the back of the shirt before throwing his weight over her shoulder. Immediately, Quentin began struggling and attempted to displace his weight to break free from her grasp. He faintly heard someone call out but couldn’t make out what was said in his panicked state.

Quentin had begun to feel her grip loosen before she pivoted around a corner and stopped. She half lifted, half shrugged, him off her shoulder and a soul searing pain sent a flare of fire throughout his body, stemming out from his left shoulder. He heard screaming and blinking through the pain-induced tears, he realized the source was from himself yelling out at the sudden pain. He tried to relax the best he could to take inventory of his situation, but his mind could only conjure a red fog to cloud his vision. Through tear blurred eyes he was able to realize he was on a meat-hook looking device that impaled his left shoulder.

In desperation, he reached up, grabbed hold of the rusted metal, and attempted to lift himself off the hook. His hands slipped as he pulled himself up just barely. The pain of his weight tugging on his shoulder caused him to cry out with the reignited pain.

“Stop moving!” A voice hissed from around a log wall. Quentin turned his head to try to see the owner of the voice and meet the glaring eyes of a black-haired girl. She was peeking around the corner of a log wall nearby. She scanned the area before running over to him and pulling him off the hook. Her strength floored him as she placed him on the ground and began going over his wounds quickly. After a few moments, the pain in his chest and shoulder felt slight relief as she tried wrapping him in makeshift bandages.

“Last I checked we have a few gens done,” She began while assisting him. “If I’ve been counting correctly, we should have about thr-“. A loud mechanical clunk broke her hushed words. “Make that two gens left.”

“Is that how you can tell how many have been done?” The dreamwalker asked and the girl nodded in reply.

“You’ll also see the lights of it in the distance usually.” She tugged on the sleeve of his jacket and started walking towards the corn stalks. “There should be another gen over here somewhere. I don’t think she’s coming back. If she wanted one of us, I’m sure she’d been back by now,”

Quentin didn’t argue as he let the girl lead him. Meanwhile, the Nurse’s screams never let up and he heard other voices scream occasionally. He knew they had to be Meg and David, and felt queasy but he kept his composure, following his new companion’s lead.

“What’s your name?” He finally asked, not wanting to be rude like he felt he had been with David.

“It’s Feng.” She replied curtly. He felt awkward at the silence that followed so he focused on trying not to miss the signs of a mini explosion on the gen. Eventually she broke the silence, “The gen should almost be done. After this, we should need just one more. I’m gonna try to finish this, but you go ahead and find another one to do. I’ll try to help those other two out of any messes in the meanwhile. You just be careful. I think the gen in the house hasn’t been touched yet.” Her demanding tone left no room for questions or objections.

Quentin grimaced at the thought but still nodded.

“Sure thing.” And with that he was off.

**_:: ::_ **

****

The farmhouse creaked with every step on the rickety floorboards, and the insomniac, although weary of the foundation and stability, made his way to the top. He heard the loud clunk of his gen with Feng go off and he felt relief that she hadn’t encountered trouble yet. He made his way to a balcony and found that David was already on the mentioned gen, his back to Quentin

“Hey, need a hand?” The dreamwalker asked as he approached. He could see the man bleeding heavily from his arm and winced. “Do you want me to take a look at your arm?” a few seconds ticked by before the man dropped his hands from the gen and turned to face him.

“Sure, yeah. That’d be great,” David’s eyes fell to the bandages and his jaw clenched. “It’s not so fun being hooked, right?” He asked softly, almost sympathetically as Quentin gingerly grabbed his arm.

“Hell no. That sucked but I’m sure I’ve had worse,” The comment was made casually while he reached down and began attempting to rip a strip of his jacket hem off for a makeshift bandage. It took him a few moments for the fabric to finally begin tearing and as he finished, he looked back up at his new companion. He found that David was studying his face intensely. Quentin couldn’t help but feel his face flush under the scrutiny and quickly dropped his gaze as he began wrapping the fabric around the wicked looking cut. After reviewing the tightness and coverage of his work, he finally tied it off and wiped he hands on his jeans.

“That should be good enough for now. If I had more supplies I could be of more help, but that should do,” refusing to make eye contact in case the other man was still studying him, he turned to the gen and started going back to crossing the wires and fumbling with the cogs. David wasn’t long behind him as Quentin heard him getting to work. He finally decided to peak over and saw the man’s brows furrowed but focused on the gen. The dreamwalker could still hear the Nurse screaming occasionally, as he worked, and he hoped the other girls were okay.

“Hold on,” David hissed out. “I’ve got a bad feeling. Come with me!” He grabbed the insomniac’s wrist and pulled him stealthily to the edge of the balcony, where it wrapped around a wall. It looked like a chest of some sort was sitting at the dead end of the balcony and David pushed him towards it and crouched down. He has positioned himself between the direction of the gen and Quentin as if protecting him.

“If she comes, I’ll try to take her attention. You just worry about not being seen and getting that gen done,” There was nothing but silence as the seconds ticked by.

“How do you know she’s-“ Quentin started but was cut off as that thing, _Nurse_ , blinked close with a scream, followed by that painfilled sigh once more. He hunched down low and listened. He heard her smack the machinery and the gen’s power surge. His heart was racing as they waited in silence.

David looked like a competitive runner in his dark tank top and track pants. He could see the man’s muscles tighten on his back as if he was preparing to run out at any second. Quentin grabbed a fist full of the tank and only gave a small tug, hoping to silently convey to the man to stay put. The English man just reached behind him without looking and grabbed Quentin’s wrist. He didn’t pull the insomniac off and instead just held on gingerly. The younger man wasn’t sure what the other meant, but they crouched there for seconds that felt like eternity, holding onto each other before there was a scream and a _whoosh!_ Then silence.

“I think she’s gone,” The dreamwalker finally said, breaking their silence. He let go of the fabric and after a moment’s hesitation, the taller man let his wrist go.

“We’re almost there… You’re… You’re doing great for your first run,” David commended him awkwardly without a glance before standing up and jogging back over to the gen.

Quentin flushed at the sudden comment and dumbfoundedly got up and moved back to the gen. The rest of the work went by without a word and then that sound of the machine clunking to life filled the air.

“We gotta get going,” David said, standing up and turning away to head back into the building. Quentin had a strange feeling that the man was now uncomfortable. Annoyance flooded his body.

_What the hell is his problem?_

“Did I say something wrong?” He asked as he grabbed the other man’s wrist and yanked, forgetting it was the man’s injured arm. David grunted in pain as he turned to face the insomniac, his eyes refusing to meet his.

“No? We gotta keep going, kid. She might be heading back any second here…”

“I’m not a fucking kid!” Quentin angrily hissed. “Why are you acting so weird all of a sudden?”

“Look, this isn’t the time right now. Let’s talk later, Nea will kill me if I don’t get you out,”

A scream.

Quentin’s blood ran cold. It sounded close.

“We have to go right now!” David bellowed and bolted for the stairs. “Let’s go!”

Quentin wasted no time in following the man’s lead. They ran through the front of the house, into the corn, frantically shoving the stalks out of their way as they made their way towards an exit door. The woman’s screams became louder and he could hear the _whooshing_ getting closer and closer with every blink of hers. They neared a door and Quentin could see Feng holding a lever down on the side of it. The lights lit up as the mechanism began blaring a horn like sound continuously. A few seconds later the metal gate shuddered open with a squeal of metal. They were close to the end, right?

Feng ran ahead of them as they reached the door and Quentin had just about made it to the stone pillars before that terrible scream came once more. In a blink of an eye, the dreamwalker went from running behind David, to crumpling forward to the ground on the hard stone. Quentin cried out as a paralyzing pain racked his body.

“No!” The English man yelled out desperately.

“We have to go! She has NO-ED!” Feng yelled over the chaos and Quentin could just barely process the sight of her tugging on David’s arm to pull him away.

“No! We can still get him!” David snarled, fighting against her pull, slowly moving closer to the dreamwalker.

A phantom force lifted him suddenly and threw him on his back suddenly.

“NO! Please don’t!” David roared and pleaded.

At that instant, the woman lunged at Quentin. Her hands wrapped around his neck and he flailed, trying to pull her hands off his neck to get air. His eyes brimmed with tears from the fight and increasing lack of oxygen. She slammed his head back into the stone and as stars filled his vision all he could think about was how he failed. He failed Nancy. He failed himself. _So this is how it ends huh?_ He thought bitterly, his brain unable to even keep up with the excruciating pain filling him. He raised his tear-filled eyes up to look up behind him. David’s pained face stared back. Quentin reached a hand out to him, pleading for some sort of aid or relief from the brutal attack, yet the man turned his back on him, leaving the insomniac behind. Abandoned. Dying.

_Coward._ Was the only word across his mind before he heard a loud pop and then there was nothing but the darkness.


	2. Fallout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this is as interesting to read as it is to write. Thanks for taking the time to read so far!
> 
> Chapters are named after the songs related.
> 
> EDIT: This is my first story on AO3 - I did a wonky and messed some things up. Sorry if you read it with the weird format and errors before I corrected it

**_:: Fallout ::  
  
_ **

_“Hush now, dry your eyes  
Fate is upon us  
The changing of times  
Welcome blood red skies  
Burn in the wake of a world left behind” – Unsecret x Neoni_

**_:: ::_ **

  
  
The crackling of the fire was the first thing to awaken Quentin’s senses. The heat was close and he felt the intense warmth surround him. Would he be burned alive?

_Freddy…_ His brain tried to warn him. _Freddy’s coming. Get up!_ He groaned at the idea of getting up from his comfortable slumber, but he recognized he had no choice with danger so close. He forced his eyes open only to be met by that horridly marred face inches away. Instinct kicked in, his eyes going wide, and he swung, decking him in the jaw. A _crack!_ sounded as his fist made contact and without hesitation he scrambled back up onto his feet, whirling around to escape.

He recognized someone was speaking to him, but he refused to listen to anything the nightmare had to say. He had only taken a few steps before he was tackled to the ground with a slide. Immediately Quentin began scrabbling at the ground to get some sort of object to defend himself with. Someone straddled him and suddenly his arms were pulled back and pinned to the ground.

“Fuck you!” He growled, turning almost feral. “I’ll fucking kill you if it’s the last thing I do! I’m going to send you straight to hell!” A hand grabbed his hair and pulled his head harshly up. He cried out in surprise as another hand clapped him on the side of his head.

“I’ll fuckin’ lamp ya right here if that’s what you really want,” A voice growled in response and the dreamwalker’s body stiffened.

_That’s not Freddy?_

“Who are…?”

“Who the fuck do you think?! Don’t get cheeky with me!” The assaulter spat.

“Da…vid?”

“Who the fuck else?”

“David!” A female yelled out. “Get off him! You’ll scare him away!”

“He fuckin’ sucker punched me!” He called back, dropping his grip on the younger man’s hair and Quentin let his body go limp in relief.

“You were in his goddamn face!”

“Fucker looked like he stopped breathin’! What was I supposed to do?” David growled in frustration.

“Nobody has ever permanently died here before, you’re worrying over nothing!”

With a huff, the larger man leaned down and Quentin could feel the pressure increase on his arms.

“Are we going to have a problem?” David’s husky voice questioned, surprisingly calm, his breath tickling the tip of Quentin’s ear. His face flushed with embarrassment at his situation and he shook his head. After a moment of tension, the Englishman rolled off him and held his hand out within Quentin’s sight to offer him help up. The younger reached out to accept but hesitated midway.

“You’re a coward.” The dreamwalker stated suddenly, shocking even himself. He wasn’t even sure where the accusation came from and his brows furrowed in confusion. His mind flooded with past events leading up to this moment. Like a broken dam, anger and confusion began to drown him. Quentin pushed himself to his feet without assistance and point a finger at the other man.

“You left me to die! What the hell, man!?” He went to shove David as the man stood up. As if expecting this kind of reaction, David caught both the dreamwalker’s wrists and held them together in a vice grip.

“I thought you agreed we wouldn’t have a problem?” Just the calmness of the taller man’s question sent Quentin over the edge.

“You’re the fucking worst!” He yanked his arms back hard but was unable to dislodge himself from the overbearing man. “Let me go, asshole!”

“Mate, I’m about a stone’s throw away from losing my temper. You’re going to want to settle down. I’m not letting go till we can learn like _proper_ children to keep our hands to ourselves,”

“YOU TACKLED ME! YOU ALMOST LET ME DIE!” Quentin screamed out in rage, his eyes tearing up with the memory of his attack. “She had her hands around my throat and you, you _BOTH_ , just-!” Quentin fell silent mid-rant as his mind raced to keep up. A sense of dread washed over him as things weren’t adding up.

“What… What happened to me?” He asked tensely, feeling small suddenly. “My neck… It doesn’t hurt. T-The pain was so real. I don’t… My neck?” He stumbled closer and met no resistance when he pushed his hands out to grab ahold of David’s tank top, needing some sort of stability. “Did I… I mean I’m not tired… I don’t hurt. Am I…?” He started to ask, and his voice broke off, not letting him finish the thought. Slowly, the Englishman let go of Quentin’s wrists and he wrapped an arm around the insomniac’s shoulders.

“Let’s go talk about it with the others, yeah?” David whispered. “There’s a lot to share.”

Quentin just nodded. Stupefied, he let the taller man maneuver him back in the direction of the campfire and other survivors. He recognized Meg sitting at the end of the fallen tree in his haze, but other than that, all he could focus on was the arm guiding him.

He was led next to the red-head and he sat in the ground, his back supported by the tree that David sat on. Meg reached down and put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, I don’t believe we’ve been introduced,” A voice broke his haze and he looked up to his right, seeing the same punk rock girl from before his trial crouching down next to him. He recognized her voice was the same one that was yelling at David earlier. “My name’s Nea,” The girl put out a hand for a handshake, he tentatively reached up and shook her hand.

“Uh, Quentin,” He replied dumbly. “What’s happening here? I survived, _right_?” He whispered out the last word, afraid of the answer.

Nea sat next to him on the ground, squeezing herself in the space between Quentin and David’s leg.

“Really?” The Englishman asked.

“Yeah really. You and Meg are hogging the new guy. Let someone else talk to him for once,” She turned back to said ‘new guy’ and gave a little rueful smile. “I know this is all going to sound like complete bullshit, but I need you to try to hear me out, okay?”

After a few slow moments, the dreamwalker nodded.

“So… No. You didn’t survive,” The girl broke the news quickly, to the point. Quentin sucked in a ragged breath and drew his knees to his chest, his arms folded on top, trying to prepare himself for the onslaught of information.

“This world is like purgatory,” She pressed on. “We can’t leave, but we can’t die. It’s like we’ve been spirited away from our lives in different timelines and forcibly held prisoner here. The one in charge is the Entity. It’s like the ‘god’ of this world. It feeds off our emotions and the killer’s anger and bloodlust. Reminds me of some Lovecraftian shit to be honest. You die, you wake up here, repeat.”

“How long have you all been here?”

“Meg, Dwight, Claud, and Jake have been here the longest. Everyone else just started appearing one by one. Our last one before you was actually David, believe it or not. Regarding an _actual_ timeline, it’s hard to know. The days rarely change here. Could be a few days, months, or years. It’s all blended together at this point for me really.”

“We really can’t leave?” Quentin asked dubiously, eyeing the forest surrounding their clearing.

“I wish we could, but we’ve never found a way. At least not yet.” She must have picked up on him scanning the woods because she said, “You really don’t want to go out there. The killers when outside of a… ‘game’…” Using air-quotes with her hands, “they just roam the woods. They can’t enter our camp, but once you leave the light of the fire, you’re free game to them,”

“W-What does that even mean?”

“I think the Entity just wants to feed off us in those trials where we do the gens. That way we’re feeding it on its own terms. We’ve never had a killer in our camp before. At least not to my knowledge,”

Quentin thought back to his encounter with Freddy here in the clearing. That had to be the reason Freddy couldn’t hurt him then, right? He dropped his head to his arms on his knees and concentrated on his encounter. If it were true that he couldn’t be hurt in the clearing, why was it that the man had still appeared? Was that real Freddy or just his dream? It wouldn’t make sense unless that was Freddy, based on the nightmare’s reaction. Freddy lived on in dreams though as a phantom. Did he even have a physical form that would wander the forest? Would that be why he appeared in the clearing? The dreamwalker had fallen asleep, thus providing a place to reside?

“Hey, don’t get sad and mopey on me now,” Nea said jokingly.

“Has someone tried dying to the killers in the forest? What happens to them?” He asked. His tone was indifferent. Even if he felt the crippling claws of despair reaching for him, he wanted to keep at least some semblance of pride.

“I have,” Meg said after a moment of silence. She slipped off the bench and plopped down on the ground next to him. Quentin raised his head to look at her. “We agreed that someone has to try and I’m the fastest in our group,”

“And?”

She gave an embarrassed smile. She must’ve realized that Quentin was having a hard time taking the information and wouldn’t meet his eyes. Maybe she knew exactly how he was feeling, maybe she was hiding her despair from him. 

“And I’m still here, aren’t I? One of those freaks found me and tortured me to death. Next thing I remember I was waking up here.”

“I’m… Sorry. That, that happened to you,” He told her, genuinely sad she experienced something like that.

There was a long silence between the group and Quentin found himself scanning the tree line. Maybe if he looked hard enough, he could see one of these killers. He looked to his right past David and saw Feng sitting on the complete opposite side of the tree with Ace and two others he hadn’t seen before. Quentin had no doubt they could hear his conversation, but they were talking amongst themselves even laughing occasionally.

Quentin felt foolish. Everyone here seemed to treat this while it was normal when it was anything but. Was he overreacting? There was no way he was though, right? Watching them interact made him question if he was being ridiculous.

“How far into the woods can I go before I’m considered in their territory?” He asked. Meg studied him for a moment before she shrugged.

“I feel like it changes based on the brightness of our fire. I’d say as long as you’re casting a shadow opposite our camp, you should be okay.”

Quentin hesitated a moment before pushing himself to his feet.

“I think… I need a minute,” He stated flatly trying to make sure his tone wouldn’t betray how confused and panicked he was.

“Do you want someone to go with you?” Nea asked, steeling the dreamwalker where he stood.

“No,” He replied stiffly “I’ll be good,” then walked off. He wasn’t a child needing a babysitter. He could take care of himself.

**_:: ::_ **

The forest felt ominous to Quentin, it was like entering the void as he walked past the tree line. He trembled slightly, unsure if his overwhelming feelings were taking over or if it was his body’s physical reaction to the forest.

The dreamwalker kept his eyes on the ground and tried to keep his eyes on the shadow, his shadow. The further in he walked, the smaller and fainter it became. He wasn’t sure if he was pushing too far but at this point, a part of him didn’t care. He stopped when he could only just barely see, or maybe he imagined, his shadow pointing to the darkness ahead. He found a large, sturdy-looking tree and sat under it, his back supported by it. He took off his jacket and crumpled it in his lap as he pulled his knees into his chest again. He positioned the crumpled fabric as a makeshift pillow and put his head down in his arms once more.

_Nancy… I’m sorry._ His eyes teared up and he felt the trembling shake his body again. It all felt so real, but rationally this place couldn’t exist right? _Right!?_ He begged for an answer of some sort but was only met by the sound of leaves gently rustling in the small breeze.

He held on to the small hope that this was all just a dream. He had read _so many_ books when researching for a way to kill Freddy, that he was beginning to hope this was all an elaborate dream his subconscious mind conjured. The thought didn’t comfort him much though.

Would Nancy think he abandoned her? His heart broke at the thought. Would she mourn for him? Thinking that he had met his end with Krueger? He desperately wished for a way to reach her. They had gone through so much together and his feelings had grown so strongly in the process. His resolve broke and his body began to wrack itself with sobs.

His dad… He’d never be able to repair his relationship with him either. After Quentin thought they had killed Freddy, he and his father never spoke. After the legal trouble of the hospital and convenience store was taken care of, he kept a heavy distance from his dad. He had been too proud to acknowledge that his dad was right in his accusation towards Freddy when he was the former gardener at Badham Preschool. Part of him also believed he was protecting his dad from the horrors he and his friends had endured. He felt stupid for it now.

He released a guttural cry as he lifted his face into his hands. There was so much left undone, unsaid. Would he never have a chance to rectify it?

**_:: ::_ **

****

It felt like hours had gone by before the dreamwalker had cried himself ragged. He thought at one point he had heard someone rustling the brush nearby, but he brushed it off. He couldn’t bring himself to care. He was laid out on his side by this point, facing deeper into the forest. His eyes burned and his mind begged to sleep from the exhaustion that pinned him to the ground, but his discipline towards sleep wouldn’t let him. He felt sluggish and out of strength. He closed his eyes for a moment's rest, allowing himself a brief respite. For safety, he kept tapping his foot, giving him something to focus on to make sure he was still awake. He still couldn’t wrap his head around it. His whole world swept out from under him overnight…

“Go to sleep, Quen,” The demonic voice cooed from behind him. The dreamwalker’s body tensed and his eyes shot open.

“I’m awake. You can’t touch me,” He tried to sound strong, but his voice quavered.

Freddy clicked his tongue.

“My poor little Quentin,” He said soothingly. “All alone and broken… But I’m right here,” the nightmare’s voice sounded closer. “I’ll always be here for _you_ ,”

“Go away!” Quentin yelled, having enough of the killer’s bullshit.

“You can scream and cry all you want,” Suddenly the voice was next to his ear, “I’m the only thing here tying you back to Nancy,”

“GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!” The dreamwalker shot up, turning around on his knees to swing at the demon but he was met with David’s confused face. Quentin froze, fist cocked back. He darted his eyes around scanning for Krueger but there was no sign of him. His body sagged in relief and he fell back into a sitting position, rubbing his face with the back of his hands to make sure there was no trace of his earlier meltdown.

“It’s funny,” He said breaking the few sweet moments of silence, feeling on the edge of hysterics. He looked up at David, “I keep seeing your face around me more and more. What the fuck do you want?” To his credit, David’s face had regained composure as if nothing happened. He just shrugged.

“I know what it’s like to be the ‘New Guy’. You heard Nea, I was the new one before you. I figured if you needed someone t’lend an ea-“

“I’m not weak,” The dreamwalker interjected coldly.

“I’m not trying to say you are, mate.” The Englishman put his hands up in a peaceful gesture. “Never meant anything to imply that.” He sat down a couple of feet away and leaned back into a tree.

Silent minutes passed by before Quentin laid back down and turned away from the man.

“Can you… Make sure I don’t actually sleep? Quentin asked stiffly, feeling weird asking for help. His head was spinning, and he didn’t trust himself to stay awake on his own.

“Uh, sure,” The response felt awkward, but sure enough a few moments later… “What’s your favorite color?”

Quentin snorted at how absurdly simple the question was and closed his eyes.

“Orange,”

“Why?”

“It reminds me of my childhood. I loved waking up to sunlight. It assured me I could swim that day.” The dreamwalker could already imagine it. Waking up in his bed, the sun shining through his neon orange curtains. The light brightened the colors of his room and he knew it implied a day at the pool. “Did you do any sports?”

Silence.

“Rugby,” David said softly. More silence followed. “What’s your favorite food?” Quentin thought about it for a long moment.

“I think it’d have to be fettuccine alfredo. You?”

“There was a pub I used to go to and let me say, _best_ fish n’ chips of my life,”

They went back and forth like that for a bit. Just asking small things about their likes and dislikes. It was nice for Quentin. He felt himself relax slowly until it felt like he was just hanging out with his friends back home. The only difference is that Quentin had a question burning at the tip of his tongue.

“Why were you acting weird? In the trial.”

Silence fell over them again.

“I’m, uh, _bad_ at the emotion things,” David finally admitted. “I thought if I complimented you or some shite you’d feel less, uh… scared. I guess I got embarrassed,”

“Scared?” Quentin scoffed. He finally got up and turned to face the other man. “When did I seem scared to you?”

“When you grabbed my shirt? Wait,” the Englishman paused for a moment. “Was that not why you grabbed my shirt?” Quentin laughed.

“Absolutely not,” Quentin could see the man’s face redden. “I just didn’t want you running out and getting caught. You looked like you were about to spring out at her at any moment,”

“Christ, guess I’m making an arse of myself all over again,” His face was red and Quentin just chuckled. “Can… Can we just start over? Forget about me being pompous dick’ead?”

“Hmmm,” the dreamwalker mused, “Denied.” David threw up his hands in defeat.

“Worth a shot.” He paused a moment and then his face went blank. “Who were you talking to earlier?”

Quentin felt dizzy, a sense of vertigo hitting him.

“Before you saw me, it looked like you were yelling at someone else… Or at least expecting someone else when you turned around.” His eyes dropped to Quentin’s torso and he smiled ruefully. “Looks like you’re gonna have to pass on that question, yeah?”

Quentin looked down at his body and saw the tendrils of black smoke, making his body tingle where it touched him. Fear gripped at him, mixed with the same panic he felt when he first experienced the phenomenon.

“Just look for another survivor. You’re gonna be okay,” David reassured before things went dark.

**_:: ::_ **

****

“Third time’s the charm!” Feng cried out in relief, praising Quentin as she gave him a small shove as they were running away from the gen they just completed together.

“What? What are you talking about?” After a few more seconds she slowed to a walk as they reached a ‘playground’ and the dreamwalker followed suit. 

“Meg introduced me when you first walked into the clearing and you asked me again for my name in our last trial together. This time you actually remembered my name. You’re such a good boy,” She cooed.

Quentin’s face went red. Had he done that? He felt bad about not remembering her name last trial but in his defense, things were maybe just a _little_ crazy last they had met.

“I’ll give you a gold star for that,” She smiled and reached up to pat him on the head. He swatted at her hand and pulled his beanie down firmly on his head.

“Ok, ok. I’m sorry!” He chuckled. “I won’t forget next time.”

“I’m just teasing.” She shrugged in response, “Anyway you did a great job, let’s go find a door.” She looked around, “Do you remember where they were?” Quentin initially shook his head at this before pausing and looking around, his eyebrows furrowed.

“I think I can see the levers from here actually...” Quentin admitted, looking towards the boat and back around him towards what he now knew was killer shack. His vision was fuzzy, but he could see a bight silhouette in each location of what he assumed to be the doors. “Can… Can you see this?” He asked incredulously. Feng’s eyes went wide as she looked around.

“See what?”

“I think… I can see the levers powering the doors…” He pointed out towards the boat. “There might be a door over there,”

“Well let’s check it out,” Feng stated as she ran ahead of him.

They took off through their swampy surroundings towards the large boat near one of the doors. To Quentin’s surprise, their trial had gone by surprisingly easy. He’d seen a hulking figure walking around and chasing Bill, (who was an older take-no-shit badass that he had met early into the trial) and Claudette (who he had the pleasure of meeting as he pulled her up, off a hook).

As they neared the door Feng slowed down and put an arm back to keep him away. She crouched down and moved slowly forward as if checking for something and then put her arm down.

“I think it’s all clear,” she said before walking to the lever to power the door. As she took her last step, there was a loud metallic snap. Feng cried out, dropping low to the ground, her hands prying at the large teeth of a bear trap that had closed around her leg. “He darkened his stupid traps!” She seethed in both a mixture of pain and anger.

Quentin had heard the metallic snapping sound but had not thought to ask about the source. There was no hesitation as he ran up next to her, his hands flying to assist in helping to open the trap.

“He’s coming!” Feng grit out as he finally found purchase and opened it just wide enough to allow her leg through. The dreamwalker turned around to face the direction he’d come and sure enough, the large masked man was heading towards them from the front of the boat. He clenched his jaw and without notice ran towards the killer.

“Get the door!” He yelled back at her. He was too focused to even process if she replied. As he neared the man, a sense of dread washed over him, his instinct was to run the other way, but he didn’t want to risk Feng’s safety. With his heart pounding he ran as close as he dared before breaking off to the right. The killer swiped with his cleaver and missed with the sudden directional change. Quentin couldn’t contain his relieved cheer.

He ran the masked man towards a waterless pier and ended up looping him around a window and pallet. He wasn’t sure how long it normally took for a door to be opened but by the time he had thrown the pallet he figured the door should be close to opening. He heard the killer break the pallet and start stomping behind the Dreamwalker. He could hear the blaring alarm as the door began powering up and sweet relief filled him.

A few seconds later the blade of the cleaver slashed between his shoulder blades and down his back. Quentin cried out in pain, but to his relief, he heard the door shutter open and he sprinted for it. He was determined not to die as he had to the Nurse. With a whoop of celebration, Feng grabbed his arm as he ran past the gates and tugged him along until the entity sprung up behind them, signaling their inability to return.

Quentin slowed and stumbled to his hands and knees, panting at the exertion he had put his body through. He looked up to the other girl and used a hand to gesture at his back.

“Is it really bad?” He felt sweaty and could feel the burning sensation of his wound taking over his senses. She shook her head as she crouched down next to him, holding out a hand to help him up.

“Once we leave the trial, the wounds are gone. Your body will usually feel the aftereffects for a bit before it feels like nothing happened. Let’s go rest back at the bonfire for now. I’m sure Nea will be excited for you,”

**_:: ::_ **

****

He was baffled as Claudette examined his back. The pain lingered but there wasn’t a scratch on him, just like Feng had stated. He shrugged his shirt back on, grabbed his jacket, thanked the botanist, then got up from the tree. Quentin locked eyes with the man who he now knew as Dwight and the other looked away quickly as if not wanting to be caught peeking at the dreamwalker. It struck Quentin as strange before he brushed it off and headed back to the forest. He chalked it up to the other man being a skittish guy which seemed pretty accurate based on how he reacted to his surroundings.

Not going as deep as he had previously, Quentin found a spot to lay down on a clear patch of the forest floor. He bundled his jacket and put it under his head as a makeshift pillow. Although his body physically healed its wounds, the physical exhaustion followed him like a dark cloud shadowing him. He had been tired before his trial and now after, his body begged for sleep. Quentin knew he should get up, but what if he was truly safe in the light of the campsite? He should be able to sleep peacefully right?

Watching the leaves overhead in the forest canopy for a few minutes, he realized they would sway towards the deeper part of the forest and then a few seconds later, the other way towards campfire. Like the forest was…

“Breathing…” Quentin said aloud, mesmerized.

“I would hope you are,” Another voice chimed in. Quentin jumped at the soft voice. It wasn’t menacing or loud, but the suddenness caused cold panic to grip at the dreamwalker. He recognized that voice.

“Nan…cy?” He asked quietly as he sat up and looked around. His heart soared at the idea of seeing her, but nothing seemed out of place. Silence bore down on him as thoughts raced through his head. Could it be her? If he was here, then she could be as well. He rose to his feet, leaving his jacket as he walked deeper into the forest.

“Nancy!” He hissed out, trying not to attract any unwanted attention. The further he walked into the forest, the denser the trees around him became.

“Quentin? Where are you?” Her voice echoed through the trees.

“Nancy! I’m right here!”

“Where… Where are we?”

“I’ll explain later!” He called back, at this point he was frantic to find her. “We need to get out of this forest! I know a safe place, but you have to find me before they do!”

“Oh god. Freddy! Freddy’s coming!” She screamed. Her voice grew frantic before she released a blood-curdling scream. That’s when the dreamwalker froze, his blood running cold. Realization dawned on him with a crushing weight.

_That’s not Nancy._ _It can’t be._

He whirled around and came face to face with the nightmare itself.

“Caught you, handsome” the scarred man menacingly sang. Quentin didn’t have time to react before one of Freddy’s claws pierced through his shoulder. The dreamwalker felt he was going to be sick and he let out a cry from the pain mixed with his growing fear.

“I’m not asleep!” He yelled grabbing the wrist of the hand that was embedded through him, trying to keep the man from doing more.

“Oh?” Freddy asked. Even with Quentin holding his wrist, the demon could still move his hand. He began turning his hand, twisting the blade in Quentin’s shoulder. Quentin cried out in pain and to his horror, the man pulled him closer until their bodies were touching. “But you are.” His gravelly voice assured him, his breath scorching hot on Quentin’s cheek. “I learned quite a few good things since we first talked here. How about we do a little catch-up?”

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! I've not written in a long while and finally decided to try my hand at something DbD related. As a heads up, music influences my writing heavily and I use the lyrics in the beginning to help myself set the tone for the chapter.
> 
> Thanks for reading! :)


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